Passengers door inside handle cracking

[Lurcher]

Anyone else have their passengers inside door handle cracking? I was surprised to see this is not a leather piece, but synthetic.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_7453

Part #2

Only a $30 replacement, but if this one starts it, I'll look into getting it wrapped correctly with some cow..

[fmorelli]

Cracked? Like the surface material? Weird.

Honestly having taken much of my Z4 apart (and lots of other BMW's) I can say that many things are very BMW in how they are designed, fasteners used, et cetera. But there is also a lot of really low-end solutions that are bubble gum and bailing wire on the Z4. I would not want to do a light restoration on one of these cars 15-20 years out. I'm unimpressed with how cheap some of the plastic is, some of the integrated clip designs that are just waiting to break (and it's not a 50 cent broken fastener anymore, but a $50 part with a 5 cent integrated clip). Some stuff is almost not meant to come apart, like the fender turn signals where the LED is integrated into the lamp. One of those clips cracked on the way out.

I ended up doing my stereo work myself as there was no way I was putting the yellow alcantara panels in someone else's harms way. If someone was going to screw them up, it was going to be me.

I take enough BMW's apart that I stock all the common BMW fasteners in the garage.

Filippo

[Lurcher]

Just did a complete photo dump to google + Look at very last picture:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...YzSVlGQUEwdGtn

Some speaker pics as well, for documentation sake

[fmorelli]

What's up with the Mini speakers?

Filippo

[Lurcher]

Put the mini speakers in (midrange 4" only). Been waiting a few days to see how it sounds (and I've been sick).

I'd say marginally better. For $38 bucks off ebay, not a bad investment & plug and play. You can see the weight difference do to the larger magnet.

[blackbeast]

Originally Posted by Lurcher

Anyone else have their passengers inside door handle cracking? I was surprised to see this is not a leather piece, but synthetic.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_7453

Part #2

Only a $30 replacement, but if this one starts it, I'll look into getting it wrapped correctly with some cow..

I am having similar issue on Z4 and the passenger door handle is craking and melting. Is the replacement easy that we can do ourselves or do we need to take it to dealership?
Also, mine is black but couldn't find the black cover in $30 range anywhere.
Can you share the link of where you ordered the part?

Thanks

[Lurcher]

Call the guys at getbmwparts.com. I had a part number, but then they said wrong, and got me hooked up.

Part pulls off horizontally- 3 small retaining clips (look in link above for 3 pics of both the door and the part). Get a plastic plybar in there at the top, and pull. Really a 5 minute fix...